Technology partner · PPC Australia

Water in at the kerb line. Two units, one job.

The TNS™ takes water in through two precast permeable-concrete products made by PPC Australia – the EnviroKerb Tray Inlet (ETI), a sealed removable tray, and the fully porous EnviroKerb™ High Flow Inlet, which takes water through the kerb body itself. The number of each is calculated from the micro-catchment runoff calculations.

EnviroKerb™ is a product of PPC Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 28 642 804 573).

The units

One is a tray. One is the kerb itself.

Both replace conventional kerb and channel, and both are interchangeable via cast-in threaded lifting sleeves – so a unit can be lifted out and swapped without breaking out the kerb line.

ETI unit on a pallet – precast concrete kerb body with a galvanised steel tray filled with permeable concrete, set on a precast water ramp

Upstream · everyday rain

ETI – EnviroKerb Tray Inlet

A precast kerb and channel unit with a built-in galvanised steel tray filled with permeable concrete, integrated within the kerb and set on a precast concrete water ramp that directs surface water towards the back of the kerb.

Takes water in at the kerb line on the everyday rainfall that makes up most of the annual volume.
A load-bearing permeable aggregate enclosed in an engineered frame, Class D rated and fully trafficable.
Coarse and fine surface material is retained in the tray rather than carried downstream (PPC Australia).
The tray lifts out via a standard Gatic locator cast into it – cleaned or replaced in minutes.

Close-up of the fully porous EnviroKerb permeable concrete kerb with cast-in threaded lifting sleeves

Downstream · heavy rain

EnviroKerb™ High Flow Inlet

A fully porous precast kerb made from PPC Australia's patented permeable concrete formula. It sits immediately downgradient of the ETI, over its own precast water ramp that deflects water away from the pavement subgrade.

Accepts water across the whole kerb face rather than at a single point.
Precast kerb body 1200 × 600 mm, matching the ETI.
Interchangeable via cast-in threaded lifting sleeves.
Serviced with conventional street sweeper and vacuum truck methods – nothing proprietary to maintain.

How they work together. The ETI sits upstream, where the everyday rain runs, with fully porous EnviroKerb™ units downstream, adjacent to it, taking water across the whole kerb face. In the TNS™, an ARI Water Filter beneath the ETI tray protects the void structure from fines and is replaced by removal.

ETI · technical data

Specifications, weights and dimensions.

Manufacturer data, PPC Australia. Confirm current figures against the product brochure before specifying.

Precast concrete kerb body

ETI and EnviroKerb unit

Length: 1200 mm
Width: 600 mm
Channel thickness: 200 mm
Throat opening: 900 × 235 mm (ETI only)
Weight: ~230 kg

Tray insert

Galvanised steel, permeable concrete fill

Tray: 990 × 350 × 50 mm
Lifting locator: Standard Gatic
Load rating: Class D
Weight: ~23 kg

Precast concrete water ramp

Deflects water away from the subgrade

Length: 995 mm
Width: 595 mm
Height: 200 mm
Lifting threads: Cast-in M16
Weight: ~200 kg

Water passing through the permeable kerb face during a test

Permeability of the permeable concrete

500mm / min

Up to 500 mm per minute – roughly 30,000 mm/hr – passes through the permeable concrete formula, tested to ASTM C1701 (PPC Australia). TNS™ hydrologic and hydraulic performance is designed and assessed against Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) – the national standard, applying in every state – with the local drainage manual applied where an authority adds its own requirements.

ASTM C1701 measures how fast water passes through the concrete itself. That is a property of the material. It is not an inlet capacity, and we do not publish one.

Materials. The elements water touches – the ETI tray cover, the EnviroKerb body and the water ramp – are mineral aggregate and cement as standard. The materials case →

The EnviroKerb range

Any kerb profile, plus made-to-measure.

EnviroKerb can be installed as a standalone item in any profile to replace traditional concrete kerb and channel, or used in conjunction with structural soil cells to form the below-ground retention the TNS™ is built on.

Profiles

Manufactured to match the kerb profile the road already uses, so the streetscape reads as normal kerb and channel.

Barrier kerb and channel
Spoon drain
Roll-over kerb and channel
Flat slab
Made to measure

Maintenance

Conventional street sweeper and vacuum truck methods, programmed into a council's existing maintenance rounds. On the TNS™, Matter SensAI sensors measure intake against a calibrated baseline, so a drop flags an inspection before it becomes a blockage.

Applications

Wherever runoff currently leaves a hard surface faster than the vegetation beside it can use.

Roads, car parks, hardstand
Street tree and nature strip
Public open space
Retrofit of existing kerb

Retrofit

Because units are interchangeable via cast-in lifting sleeves, an existing kerb run can be opened, a unit dropped in, and the run closed again – no redesign of the surface network.

“EnviroKerb technology aims to reverse the way water is handled in our streets – capturing it at the source and returning it to the trees, gardens and green spaces that make our cities liveable.”

Martin Cook · Director, PPC Australia

In the system

Where the units sit in the TNS™.

The units are the entry point. Everything downstream of them – water ramp, drainage cell, tank module, structural soil cells and tree pit – is the retention and storage asset.

Labelled cutaway of the TNS – pavement, EnviroKerb, water ramp unit, Rainsmart Nero Pave cell, tank module, Terravault structural soil cells and tree pit

Labelled cutaway: rain enters at the kerb line, passes the water ramp unit into the drainage cell and tank module, then down through the structural soil cells to the tree root zone. A small relief pipe at the base engages only once the connected systems have filled and the substrate is fully saturated.

A hand lifting the galvanised tray out of the ETI body using the cast-in Gatic locator

Serviceability

The tray lifts straight out.

The access locator is cast into the galvanised steel tray, so cleaning and replacement is a lift-out operation – not a break-out.

Top view of the ETI tray set flush into the precast kerb body

In the kerb line

Flush, trafficable, unremarkable.

The tray sits flush in the channel and carries a Class D load rating, so the unit behaves like the kerb and channel either side of it.

Product brochures

ETI – EnviroKerb Tray InletProduct brochure, 2 pp · specifications, weights and dimensions · PDF EnviroKerb™ – product brochureProduct brochure, 2 pp · kerb profiles, materials and installation · PDF

Attribution and scope. EnviroKerb™ and the ETI are products of PPC Australia Pty Ltd; the brochures above are PPC Australia's own publications and the product data in them is theirs. BGI specifies these units as the entry point to the TNS™ and makes no stormwater quality claim for the TNS™ – where a project carries stormwater quality obligations, those are met by separate, appropriately certified measures.

Once it is a council asset

Serviced with the equipment councils already own.

The program follows the condition of the asset rather than a testing regime. No specialist skills, no instruments, no confined space entry – and cleaning is carried out to keep water passing through the asset, not as stormwater treatment.

The tray takes the first flush.

The ETI sits at the upstream end of the run, so it meets the first flush of each event and the material carried with it. It is also the one component that lifts out on a Gatic locator, flushes clean and goes back in minutes. The most serviceable part carries the heaviest load by design – keeping the tray clear is what protects the rest of the run.

Cleaned on rounds you already run.

Mechanical cleaning is programmed into the same street rounds as the surrounding kerb. Vacuum or regenerative air sweepers only – a rotary broom pushes fines down into the voids and makes the problem worse. Organic material breaks down and washes through on its own; soil, sand and construction fines are what actually matter.

Evidence, not the calendar.

Where Matter SensAI intake monitoring is installed at the connected node, it learns the normal intake pattern and notifies the maintenance team when intake drops at a specific unit. Attendance is triggered by the asset itself rather than by a schedule, and no manual checking is needed.

If in doubt, tip a bucket of water in.

That is the only test a crew needs. If the water disappears, the asset is working. If it is slow, bring the next clean forward. If it runs along the channel, book the vacuum truck.

Maintenance Schedule (PPCA-OM-001). PPC Australia's full schedule for asset owners and maintenance contractors – equipment and protection, escalation steps, replacement, and the controls that keep soil and construction fines off the asset during nearby works. Currently in review; available on request.